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20L Fish stocking + red dragonet questions


Halo_003

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Suggestions or comments? I thought I'd be going to downsize to a 4G so I sold my clownfish pair. Tank is a 20L (30x12x12), may be sumped eventually, need a new stand for that.

 

Here's what I was thinking...

 

1x Black Ice or Picasso clown - just have to find one I like when I have cash.

1x red dragonet - saw this in my LFS the other day and fell in love. ADORABLE little guys. I know they're hard though. *see below*

1x Flasher or Fairy wrasse - no idea on type yet. May just do like an Azure damsel, I hear they're pretty reasonable for a damsel. Open to suggestions here.

 

How does that look?

 

 

On the dragonet... I'm doing a lot of reading right now. The only thing that concerns me about it is the idea of training it. I doubt seriously that a 20L with 22lbs of rock will be enough for it to sustain itself on pods alone. Any advice here? I'm willing to try training one, and if I get one I think it'd be best to get one before any other fish so it gets A) familiar with the tank, B) trained, C) me time to observe it. I don't think I could QT one realistically. I don't have a well established QT. My DT though is about 7 months old.

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Be willing to spend lots of $ on different foods and it can be done. Ofc it may eat anything you offer it right away or it may take 10 foods later. lol Nutramar ova #1 but unfortunately it's been out of stock forever.

 

I say go for it if it is what you want and just be prepared for the worst, or the best! I would ask the LFS to feed the ruby's in case one is already eating frozen.

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That's what I'm scared of. :unsure: I have a few weeks to decide at least. I'll be getting an ATO before I get any fish as well.

 

IIRC the red (not ruby) was $18(?) or so I think. I'll call and check tomorrow. I'll definitely get them to feed next time I'm there to scope one out. I'd like a male I think for the prettier/larger dorsal fin. I have Xtreme Marine (sinking) pellets and PE Mysis on hand. Might look into some other small frozen though. I think I like the shotglass method best from the sounds of it.

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Reading up some more, seems like the care for them is the same as a Mandarin. Is this pretty much true?

 

Any ideas on an active fish that will swim through rock work, arches and valleys etc? That would be neat. :) This is where I was thinking a flasher or fairy wrasse would do well.

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My flasher's stayed in the open water mostly. A pygmy or pink streak would hang out in the rock work.

 

Care is the same, they are both dragonets.

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Def get you're pod count up as you really need this as a primary food source which can give you some flexibility on trying other foods. That being said my dragonet started chasing spirilina enriched brine within a few days. They are great fish and you should get one once the tank has a healthy amount of pods. They are a very rewarding fish.

image-70.jpg

 

Reading up some more, seems like the care for them is the same as a Mandarin. Is this pretty much true?

 

Any ideas on an active fish that will swim through rock work, arches and valleys etc? That would be neat. :) This is where I was thinking a flasher or fairy wrasse would do well.

Although common you really can't beat a six line for active swimming.

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I would do a sixline but don't want to deal with one down the line. Tank should be pretty much set on pods right now, haven't had fish for a month and its been up for 7 months.

 

How often would I need to feed? If I can do once or twice daily that would work. Pellets in AM, frozen in the evening.

 

With the shot glass method, once they take food out of it, do you have to continue using it whenever you feed?

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A six line will strip the pods down to nithing, and make even rule out a trained mandarin as they can harass one yo death due to perceived competition for food.

 

Admittedly a lovely if challenging (in a different way) fish as well. You swap dietary concerns for potential attitude issues. ;)

 

If there's more than one mandarin at your lfs, do what tambrev recommended: have them feed a blended food that's readily available (rod's, larrys, etc) and choose then most appealing one that's going nuts for it. You're watching for rapid pecking and minimal "spitting".

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Snow_Phoenix

A six line will strip the pods down to nithing, and make even rule out a trained mandarin as they can harass one yo death due to perceived competition for food.

 

While some part of this is true, I kept a trained Spotted Mandarin Dragonet in the same tank with a Sixline with no issues for almost 7 months. The tank was a 30G long with a plumbed 16G sump. The Sixline never attacked my Mandarin, and was generally a good guy. But he began to chase my clowns on occasion, so he was one of the first fish I gave away when I tore my tank down. So I'm going to refute this statement. A sixline will not necessarily outcompete a trained Mandarin for pods. That scenario occurs wholly based on the chance of the individual fish's personality. If you get a d*ckhead of a Sixline and put it in with a trained Mandarin, then yes, they may compete for the same food. But if you get a Sixline that's more passive than usual, chances are he won't care about the Mandarin either way.

 

Of course, this also depends on how trained your Mandarin is. Even though my Mandarin was trained onto frozen and pellets, he constantly grazed the rocks for pods. My Sixline preferred scoping out the tank for worms. This was just my experience. I personally don't think it's a fact that you cannot have a Mandarin and a Sixline in the same tank - other factors must be also considered.

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Erm... may. May! Damn auto correct... totally changes the tone of my post.

 

Shadow - that's a much bigger tank, with opportunity for the sixline to establish a territory smaller than "all of it". I thought the tank in question was around 20 gallons. I would have loved to get a sixline for my tank, but at just over 12"x12" i just didn't see it happening, even though around here tiny specimens keep showing up in the nano fish sections of stores. Wanted mandarin more.

 

OP - you never know what your gonna wind up with insofar as fish' personality goes.

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Snow_Phoenix

Erm... may. May! Damn auto correct... totally changes the tone of my post.

 

Shadow - that's a much bigger tank, with opportunity for the sixline to establish a territory smaller than "all of it". I thought the tank in question was around 20 gallons. I would have loved to get a sixline for my tank, but at just over 12"x12" i just didn't see it happening, even though around here tiny specimens keep showing up in the nano fish sections of stores. Wanted mandarin more.

 

OP - you never know what your gonna wind up with insofar as fish' personality goes.

 

No worries, Bulk, wasn't arguing or nitpicking - just wanted to give my opinion as well. :)

 

Yeah, if we're speaking in relation to the OP's tank, it may/may not work depending on (honestly) the fish's character. If the OP gets a jerk of a sixline, then that dragonet will be in a lot of trouble. :(

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Yeah I don't think a sixline would work well in my size tank with what I want to stock. I was thinking maybe a bluish fairy wrasse would be good, something really active like that. My scape is like 4 islands, with 2 of them connected by a small arch so I'd love if something would use that. :)

 

On another note, I stopped by the LFS today, they have the Ruby Red Dragonet for $39.99, and the Red (what they called a red scooter blenny) Dragonet for $24.99. Not bad pricing I think. They also were both eating frozen which is a good sign.

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Get a pygmy angelfish!!! they are so awesome i've got one in my 20L he is the only resident at the moment.

 

 

Thought about that but not sure I want to deal with possibility of one nipping. Also I think it's a bad idea to have 4 fish in a 20L. Though, he could replace the Gramma.

 

But what kind? It'd need to have a bluish color I think to offset the red/yellow of a Ruby Dragonet and the white/black/orange of a Black ice clown, maybe a Coral Beauty? The 3rd fish is still really a wildcard so I'm still open to ideas.

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Thought about that but not sure I want to deal with possibility of one nipping. Also I think it's a bad idea to have 4 fish in a 20L. Though, he could replace the Gramma.

 

But what kind? It'd need to have a bluish color I think to offset the red/yellow of a Ruby Dragonet and the white/black/orange of a Black ice clown, maybe a Coral Beauty? The 3rd fish is still really a wildcard so I'm still open to ideas.

 

My royal gramma comes out for food and thats it, never see him overwise. If you are ok with that in a fish it looks alright.

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Your choices are great. The ruby red dragonet will scoot all over the aquarium, the clown will add nice coloration and will be visible almost all the time. The Royal gramma has some very stunning color but may or may not hide. I think once it gets acclimated it will be fine.

 

Possum wrasses will swim in and out of rock work which you want. They are small and docile and make a very cool addition. Another great addition is the blue stripe pipefish. They are strong swimmers and eat mysis and brine. They swim among the rocks and can hadle their own against other fish. It's the only pipefish I would recommend for longevity. Also really like the tail spot Blenny. Swims around the tank, sits on rock work and has a tone of great expressions and personality. Coloration is pretty good too.

 

No to the Pygmy angel and 6 line wrasse. I have seen them be aggressive toward other fish, inverts, and coral. They are great fish but a risk which you know already. Of course this is my preference and experience with these fish. Good luck with you choices.

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Your choices are great. The ruby red dragonet will scoot all over the aquarium, the clown will add nice coloration and will be visible almost all the time. The Royal gramma has some very stunning color but may or may not hide. I think once it gets acclimated it will be fine. Possum wrasses will swim in and out of rock work which you want. They are small and docile and make a very cool addition. Another great addition is the blue stripe pipefish. They are strong swimmers and eat mysis and brine. They swim among the rocks and can hadle their own against other fish. It's the only pipefish I would recommend for longevity. Also really like the tail spot Blenny. Swims around the tank, sits on rock work and has a tone of great expressions and personality. Coloration is pretty good too. No to the Pygmy angel and 6 line wrasse. I have seen them be aggressive toward other fish, inverts, and coral. They are great fish but a risk which you know already. Of course this is my preference and experience with these fish. Good luck with you choices.

 

 

Pipefish I'll have to look into some more. Not really that familiar with them, but it looks cool. I don't want it to compete with the dragonet though for food.

 

Royal Gramma does sound pretty cool, as does a Possum Wrasse. 4 fish is probably too much though I have seen some amazing tanks that most would consider to be overstocked. Might be doable down the line with a serious skimmer/filtration setup but for now I'll start with a dragonet, look for a clown and keep looking for #3. :)

 

Thanks!

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Waiting till you have a good pod population is a good idea so you have a buffer while trying to train him. Also i would think about getting him before you get any fist that are aggressive eaters like a clown fish. I think most of my sucsess training my manderin was bceause he was not being botherd by other fish and could take all the time he needed to sample the food and get comfortable. Some people i know have used a breeder box to help train there dragonets but sens this is a new tank i would say just get him before the more agressive tank mates.

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Yep plan is to get the dragonet first, so it will be alone for a bit before I get a clown. I plan on using that time to train it. :)

 

The tank has been up for 7 months give or take so the pod population should be pretty high. I had a pair of clowns but had to sell them thinking I'd be moving.

 

Panther grouper would be awesome!

 

 

Yeah!!!! They are really pretty but I think I might get done flak for having one in a 20G. :)
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I had a pair(ruby), they were always moving around the tank, I was so happy to have them. Then the male died, reason unknown, and she seems a bit depressed now not moving around nearly as much.

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